Questing for Atlantis

On the face of it Coraline is a pretty simple movie. A young girl finds a fantasy world filled with wonder, but also danger. She confronts this danger and ultimately learns some valuable lessons about life. In 3-D.
The film is that. It is also visually stunning, populated with rich, quixotic personalities, and a number of surprisingly dark elements for a movie seemingly targeted to children.

More appealing than anything else though, it the film’s political moral. Simply put, the movie is a perfect expression of one of the truest statements ever made of government:
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”
This may not seem immediately obvious, but bear with the claim.

Living a boring life in a new house, a young girl Coraline finds a door that leads to a mirror world. In this world she has an Other Mother.

This Other Mother has eyes (or rather buttons) for nothing but Coraline, showering her with delicious foods, fantastic shows, and most of all, “love” and attention.
Coraline soon finds though that there is a price for these wonders. When Coraline balks, the Other Mother throws her inside a mirror.

There she finds three ghost children. They reveal the Other Mother tempted them with “treasures and treats” and that they accepted her offer, only to find themselves trapped forever in her realm, with all the happiness gone and only misery and pain in its place.
Later events continue to build the parallels. It is suggested that the Other Mother’s power is completely dependent on the strength of the children she traps, and without the children’s eyes (symbol for their labor and income perhaps?) the world slowly begins to dissolve.
The closing events of the movie drive home the socialist parallels while bringing home recent experiences in America.
Coraline finds that unless she can completely close off the Other Mother’s access to her and the Real World, she will be back, for her or some other child and the whole cycle will begin anew. The only answer is to lock the door and throw the key where no one can ever access it.
America certainly failed to do so. The Constitution wasn’t made safe enough to keep the government from power forever. Now the nation has bought into President Obama’s treasures and treats (stimulus package anyone?). Is it only a matter of time till every citizen gets buttons for eyes?
This movie is an absolute must-see. The visuals are amazing, the characters enchanting, the story compelling, and the moral is spot-on. Hopefully the Obama family is getting a private screening at the White House.